Gasoline in the crankcase

[dieseldude]

Went to exercise the generator this afternoon and notice the last time it was ran, someone left the gas on. started to to the pre run check list, breakers off check, cords unplugged-check, gas in tank, nope add gas - check, oil level - uh thats not normal....... To see what was going on, I put a catch pan underneath and let it drain. Almost 3 quarts of gas in the crankcase!! Started looking for gas in other places. tried to pull engine over, about a 1/4 rotation then hydrolocked. yep cylinder full too.

Did some investigating and come to find out the float had hung open. no big deal, fix the float and re assemble.

With that much gas in the crankcase, what would be a star up procedure? I was thinking, refill with fresh 30w, run a few minutes, drain and repeat, finish by refilling with my usual 5w30 syn-oil?

Any suggestions? I never had this happen before.

 

[85Hokie]

Went to exercise the generator this afternoon and notice the last time it was ran, someone left the gas on. started to to the pre run check list, breakers off check, cords unplugged-check, gas in tank, nope add gas - check, oil level - uh thats not normal....... To see what was going on, I put a catch pan underneath and let it drain. Almost 3 quarts of gas in the crankcase!! Started looking for gas in other places. tried to pull engine over, about a 1/4 rotation then hydrolocked. yep cylinder full too.

Did some investigating and come to find out the float had hung open. no big deal, fix the float and re assemble.

With that much gas in the crankcase, what would be a star up procedure? I was thinking, refill with fresh 30w, run a few minutes, drain and repeat, finish by refilling with my usual 5w30 syn-oil?

Any suggestions? I never had this happen before.

I have had it happen twice !!!! AND then I said "I WILL CUT THE FUEL OFF - ALWAYS !" I did what you did, drain, run with cheap shiet, drain and place back with good stuff! and.....i learned to cut the fuel off !!!!!!!

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

If it's all manual then yes you need to shut the fuel off to be safe!
If you have electric start you can add a electric fuel cut off inline and save a whole lot of future abuse!

NO do not fill with 30w and then back to synthetic as it could glaze the cylinders and then pump out oil and smoke.
Once you go synthetic stay synthetic!
And if it doesn't have a pressurized oiling system, IE oil filter, it won't really matter, pour a little oil in and with the plug out if it flows back out clean plug it and fill it up.

 

[dieseldude]

I guess I got distracted last time I ran it and forgot to turn the valve off.

2 questions come to mind.

First, should I ventilate the crankcase to remove any remaining vapors just in case the low oil cut off would spark, granted it shouldn't on a fresh fill.

Second, put a little oil, maybe a teaspoon, in the cylinder to remove any washed away by the raw gas?

 

[Tooljunkie]

Fill it with oil, the good stuff. Put a dribble in cylinder and run it til its warm.
Gas will evaporate/ burn off through crankcase vent system. Tie a string from fuel valve to off switch or key-just as a reminder.

 

[dieseldude]

Got some fresh oil. Going to do a quick rinse and refill, then try and start.
We'll see what happens

Thanks for the input everyone.

 

[dieseldude]

filled with the syn oil, drained it and refilled to capacity. 2 pulls and it fired right off like nothing had happened. I did forget to mention the muffler was also full of gas. anyways it runs good, just have to burn off the oily hand prints from the muffler.

thank